Verse Lens · Concise explanation
1 Kings 1:13 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 13. 13Go and get thee in unto king David, and say unto him, Didst not thou, my lord, O king, swear unto thine handmaid, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne? why then doth Adonijah reign?
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence: “Go and get thee in unto king David, and say unto him, Didst not thou, my lord, O….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Nathan asks Bathsheba to act.”
Read It With
- 1 Kings 1:11–14
Read 1 Kings 1:13 with 1:11–14. The selected wording supplies one step in the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: Has Nathan alert Bathsheba that Adonijah is acting as king without David's knowledge; sets Nathan's planned entrance as corroboration while Bathsheba is still speaking.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Nathan asks Bathsheba to act,” 1 Kings 1:13 advances the thought unit through its next reported action, speech, or consequence through the wording “Go and get thee in unto king David, and say unto him, Didst not thou, my lord, O….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: 1 Kings 1:5–10 establishes this prior movement: Introduces Adonijah's self-exaltation and royal display as he declares that he will be king; marks Nathan, Benaiah, the mighty men, and Solomon as deliberate exclusions from Adonijah's feast. 1 Kings 1:11–14 responds to the pressure, request, or claim already established; that demonstrated relationship, rather than database adjacency alone, explains its placement.
Read 1 Kings 1:11–14 together
Why these verses belong together: Nathan asks Bathsheba to act is the complete reviewed scene, prayer, oracle, list, or regnal notice bounded at 1:11–1:14.
Verse 11. 11 Wherefore Nathan spake unto Bath-sheba the mother of Solomon, saying, Hast thou not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith doth reign, and David our lord knoweth it not?
Verse 12. 12 Now therefore come, let me, I pray thee, give thee counsel, that thou mayest save thine own life, and the life of thy son Solomon.
Verse 13. 13 Go and get thee in unto king David, and say unto him, Didst not thou, my lord, O king, swear unto thine handmaid, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne? why then doth Adonijah reign?
Verse 14. 14 Behold, while thou yet talkest there with the king, I also will come in after thee, and confirm thy words.
What Remains True
Public power and worship remain accountable to truth, covenant faithfulness, affected people, and consequences rather than title, success, wealth, or majority support. This unit tests that truth through has Nathan alert Bathsheba that Adonijah is acting as king without David's knowledge; sets Nathan's planned entrance as corroboration while Bathsheba is still speaking. In 1 Kings 1:13, the concrete line “Go and get thee in unto king David, and say unto him, Didst not thou, my lord, O…” keeps that truth accountable to the narrated evidence.
How It Can Shape Life
- The evidence to keep visible in this verse is “Go and get thee in unto king David, and say unto him, Didst not thou, my lord, O….” Use authority to increase truthful access, protect people with less power, preserve dissent, and repair concrete harm instead of defending reputation, control, or religious prestige. This response follows from the unit's own sequence: Has Nathan alert Bathsheba that Adonijah is acting as king without David's knowledge; sets Nathan's planned entrance as corroboration while Bathsheba is still speaking.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 1 Kings 1:11–14 — Nathan asks Bathsheba to actSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: 1 Kings 1:11–14, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 1 Kings
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording and morphology used for lexical, grammatical, name, clause, and older-English checks; this is not a critical apparatus or historical proof.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 1:11–14
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: 1 Kings with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Only printed unit-level translation, lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, and verse-numbering notes; silence is not evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible 1 Kings PDF, printed pp. 584–586, translation and translator notes for 1:11–14
Open source ↗